Note that the official preview link lets you download an installer that apparently will update your existing Windows installation. If you want better control of what you’re doing, use the links at Neowin. Or use these official Microsoft links to ISO files for burning onto DVDs.

What happens when I download Windows 8 Consumer Preview Setup?

When you download Windows 8 Consumer Preview Setup, the following happens:

Windows 8 Consumer Preview Setup checks your PC to see if it can run the consumer preview, and provides a compatibility report that you can save or print (make sure your devices are connected to your PC and turned on before you run the Setup program). The Setup program then selects the optimized version of the download (up to 25% smaller) that is right for your PC (32-bit or 64-bit).

The built-in download manager lets you start, stop, and resume the download at any time.

Once Windows 8 Consumer Preview is downloaded, you choose how and when to install it. You can install on the current drive or you can make an ISO or bootable flash drive for installing Windows 8 Consumer Preview on another partition, virtual machine, or another PC (requires Windows Vista or Windows 7).

Update 2.0: I’m still playing and getting acquainted. I’ll offer more impressions later today or tomorrow. But for now, I like Engadget’s early-impression post.

Note this paragraph, which gives voice to some concerns I had about switching between the traditional desktop and the Metro interface. It appears to be somewhat jarring:

Disjointed is the key word that comes to mind after you spend some time with Windows 8. As a tablet OS, if you can keep in Metro land, things feel good. Very good. The gestures are a bit more complex and less intuitive than we’ve seen on other tablet operating systems, but more savvy users will appreciate that. That said, Windows is still primarily a desktop operating system, and once you get to that level the cracks in the foundation start to show.

Jumping back-and-forth between Metro and desktop is hugely disorienting and, at least in the early days of Windows 8, you’ll be doing a lot of that. The simple task of switching between apps using the mouse has become painful. In Windows 7 it’s just a matter of clicking in the task bar on the icon of the one you want. Now, if it’s a Metro app you want back it’s a matter of going to the upper-left corner, then dragging down and trying to figure out which of the little pop-up windows is the one you want. Meanwhile, desktop-style apps are listed along the task bar on the bottom as before.

Update 3.1.2012: After spending some time with Windows 8 Consumer Preview, I’ve decided to hold off on an early impressions piece. I want to take my time with it, so look for something in my print column and on our iPad app on Tuesday. It will be available on the Web the next day.

Original post

This morning, Microsoft will release an early version of its Windows 8 operating system, which it’s calling a Consumer Preview. Regardless of the marketing spin Redmond puts on it, this is a beta, and as you can see from the wallpapers that have already been leaked, Microsoft is even making the same “betta fish” joke it made with Windows 7.

Microsoft is taking the wraps off this release starting about 9 a.m. CST at a launch event at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. That it’s choosing to do the reveal at a mobile tech trade show is no accident – Windows 8 is intended as Microsoft’s transition into the post-PC world, and if the company is to stay relevant, Win8 must succeed.

The Consumer Preview will be your chance to begin the long of process of determining whether Microsoft has succeeded. As soon as a link for the software is available, I’ll update this post.

But even if you’re an enthusiast, you’ll want to ask yourself: Should you download and install it? Running unfinished software is always a risk, and while the Developer Preview released last year during the BUILD conference was fairly stable, using a beta operating system is not for the faint of heart.

Be aware that this will likely be a big download – expect it to be north of 3 gigabytes. It likely will take a long time to download, and everyone else will want it, too. Patience is a virtue.

If you must install it, don’t do so on your primary Windows PC – at least, not right away. Keep an eye out for pitfalls discovered by others.

If you must install it now, and you only have one PC on which to do so, you should be able to do so in a way that lets choose whether to boot from your current OS or Windows 8 at startup.

Another smart plan of attack: Run Windows 8 virtually. Use virtual machine software – such as VMware, Parallels or the open-source VirtualBox – to run the new OS alongside your existing system. You’ll need plenty of RAM – I’d allot at least two gigabytes for both your native and guest operating systems – and drivers will be an issue. Virtualization programs come with drivers for formally released versions of Windows, but it may be a while before their developers have drivers for Windows 8. Expect your initial Win8 virtual machines to be balky.

The best way to run Windows 8 will be on a machine dedicated for that purpose. Microsoft wants Windows 8 to have the same system requirements as Windows 7, which had the same requirements as Vista. With enough memory – again, I’d suggest not less than 2 GB – Win8 should do fine on hardware up to five years old.

Finally, there’s the issue of program compatibility. Software that ran on Windows 7 should do just fine on Windows 8. That may not be true for drivers – I was unable to get Win7 drivers for an HP TouchSmart 520 desktop’s touchscreen to work with the Developer Preview, even though HP suggested that I could. Maybe I was just doing it wrong, but consider it a cautionary tale.

Oh, and by way, it looks like there will be at least two versions of the Consumer Preview – one for consumers and the other for business – according to A New Domain.

Again, I’ll update this post when the Consumer Preview is released. If you want to check some liveblogs from the launch event, visit The Verge or CNet.